WildernessSurvival

Wilderness Survival

Basic Survival Skills

he advances in the development of outdoor clothing, equipment, emergency foodand techniques have been growing rapidly in recent years. For those beginnersinterested in using the outdoors there is unlimited information on wilderness survivalskills and equipment available. However, experience is the best teacher in anyoutdoor situation and your reaction in a wilderness survival situation depends onyour education. Always keep in mind that it can happen to you. Those who arementally and physically prepared to survive are more likely to do so. To deal with anemergency situation one must be able to make decisions, improvise and remaincalm.

Fear

- For anyone faced with a wilderness emergency survival situation, fear is anormal reaction. Unless an emergency situation has been anticipated, fear isgenerally followed by panic then pain, cold, thirst, hunger, fatigue, boredom andloneliness. It is extremely important to calmly assess the situation and not allowthese seven enemies to interfere with your survival.

Pain

- Pain may often be ignored in a panic situation. Remember to deal withinjuries immediately before they become even more serious.

Cold

- Cold lowers the ability to think, numbing the body and reducing the will tosurvive. Never allow yourself to stop moving or to fall asleep unless adequatelysheltered.

Thirst

- Dehydration is a common enemy in an emergency situation and must not beignored. It can dull your mind, causing you to overlook important survivalinformation.

Hunger

- Hunger is dangerous but seldom deadly. It may reduce your ability tothink logically and increase your susceptibility to the effects of cold, pain and fear.

Fatigue

- Fatigue is unavoidable in any situation so it is best to keep in mind that itcan and will lower your mental ability. Remember that in an emergency situation thisis often the bodies way of escaping a difficult situation.

Boredom & Loneliness

- These enemies are quite often unanticipated and maylower the mind's ability to deal with the situation.

HOW TO:Build a Fire

Building a fire is the most important task when dealing with survival in thewilderness. Be sure to build yours in a sandy or rocky area or near a supply of sandand water as to avoid forest fires. The most common mistakes made by thoseattempting to build a fire are: choosing poor tinder, failing to shield preciousmatches from the wind and smothering the flames with too large pieces of fuel. The

four most important factors when starting a fire are spark - tinder - fuel - oxygen.The most common ways to create spark are:

. Waterproof, strike-anywhere matches are your best bet. Matches may be water-proofed by dipping them in nail polish. Store your matches in a waterproof container.

. A cigarette lighter is also a good way to produce a spark, with or without fuel.

. The flint and steel method is one of the oldest and most reliable methods in firestarting. Aim the sparks at a pile of dry tinder to produce a fire.

. The electric spark produced from a battery will ignite a gasoline dampened rag.

. Remove half of the powder from a bullet and pour it into the tinder. Next place arag in the cartridge case of the gun and fire. The rag should ignite and then may beplaced into the tinder.

. Allow the suns rays to pass through a magnifying glass onto the tinder.